


Bitter Pill

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, mentions of queer bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 08:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20561651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: Michael spares a moment of honesty. Isobel does exactly what he expected.





	Bitter Pill

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to like 25 minutes of episode 3 of the queeralienblast podcast before I had to go to work but I still got heckin inspired by their discussion on how magically no one ever actually asked michael what happened to his hand so heres a story

“I called you because Max just left him here last time.”

Isobel nodded her thanks to Maria as she quickly made her way to Michael’s side. He was slumped over with a dirty bar rag covering his nose, his blood staining it. Her hand instantly slipped into his hair while the other tilted his chin up to face her.

“What happened?” Isobel demanded, trying to make eye contact with him even though his eyes refused to focus. She could smell the alcohol and the acetone on him, clear indicators she wasn’t going to get him in his right mind any time tonight. “He’s underaged, you know,” Isobel said sharply, turning her annoyance on Maria who held up her hands in defense.

“Tell that to his ID,” she said. Isobel huffed but didn’t bother arguing. Michael did turn twenty-one in a few months. It just wasn’t a good sign that he was already getting plastered beforehand.

“My nose hurts,” Michael grumbled. Isobel pursed her lips looking him over once again. She could already see the swelling around his eyes starting up.

“Thanks for calling me,” she said halfheartedly to Maria before she lugged Michael to his feet.

Slowly, they made their way to her car outside. He would be sleeping on her couch for at least the next two nights if his fresh wounds were any indicator. She didn’t think he’d be able to see well enough to drive for a couple days. The whole ordeal was enough to make her sick.

“You can’t keep doing this, Michael,” she sighed as she started up the car. He snorted a laugh, but immediately flinched afterward.

“Doing what?”

“Getting fucked up and then starting a fight.”

“I didn’t start shit.”

“Oh yeah? You really expect me to believe that?”

Michael didn’t answer her right away. In fact, he spent the rest of the ride to her and Max’s shared apartment in total silence. She tried not to let her annoyance build as he just curled up in the passenger seat. She was almost able to feel pity for him.

It wasn’t until she turned off the engine that he spoke again.

“There was a guy at the bar. He was really cute,” Michael said softly, never moving from his position curled up with his eyes closed and his head against the window.

Isobel managed to keep her face still even though she was a bit shocked he was choosing this way to come out to her. Every once in a while over the last few years, she’d have her suspicions that maybe he wasn’t telling her something, but she never thought too much into it. Maybe she should have.

“Went up to him, flirted a bit. He seemed into it. His brother was not,” Michael admitted, another empty little laugh coming from him. She furrowed her eyebrows.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he followed me to the bathroom, made it clear I should stay away from his brother,” Michael said, gesturing limply to his face. Her eyes went wide, her heart beating a little faster.

“Michael, oh my god. That’s not okay. Who is this guy? We can press charges, that’s a hate crime. What was his name?” Isobel demanded, searching for a piece of paper to write the name down. He waved her away.

“Nah, doesn’t matter, I’ve taken worse,” Michael said simply, groaning as he let his feet hit the ground.

“Maybe whenever you started it, but not because of this,” she argued. She would’ve known if something had happened like this before, she knows she would’ve. He acted differently than he didn’t when he got hurt in a fight he started. She would’ve noticed.

Except he laughed.

“Okay,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. She blinked a few times as another wave of shock hit her. For once, she noticed as he instinctively held his destroyed hand a little closer.

“Michael,” Isobel said slowly and softly as she focused in on him, “What happened to your hand?”

Her stomach churned and she felt physically ill when he turned to her with the most cynical smile she’d ever seen on his once-upon-a-time boyish features. How hadn’t she noticed? How could she have let him suffer on his own?

“You don’t wanna know,” he said before opening the door and climbing out.

She sat there for a while as she debated with herself if she actually wanted to know or not. While part of her wanted to drag the truth out of him so she could track down whoever did it, another part of her wondered what could’ve been so bad that he never told her. Isobel had always been under the impression that they were completely honest about everything. The three of them were a package deal, all they had was each other. 

So what could’ve been so bad that Michael kept it from them?

The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to know the truth. It was pathetic that she felt that way but she couldn’t seem to convince herself to feel otherwise. It scared her, the idea that Michael had been beaten down to an unrecognizable level. She didn’t think she could handle it and she didn’t think it would help to force him to drag something so horrible up. It was better and easier if she just protected him a little more now that she knew. Protecting him was something that she could do.

Isobel eventually got out of her car and made her way to her apartment, finding Michael already curled up on the couch and breathing steadily enough to say that he was asleep. She leaned over him to look at his face, double-checking to make sure that he was no longer bleeding. When she was sure he wasn’t, she draped the blanket over him and did her best to tuck him in before leaving a kiss to the crown of his head. 

She went to bed that night with the false comfort that he felt safe in his silence.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
